Apple recently updated its "Optimizing Apps for iOS 6"developer page with a new pie chart highlighting the lack of fragmentation among iOS versions being run on active mobile devices (via AppleInsider). According to the chart, 93% of iOS devices accessing the App Store over a two-week period ending on June 3 were running some version of iOS 6, with 6% running iOS 5 and just 1% running earlier versions of the operating system software.
Apple's chart appears to be a direct jab at Google, which has long published its own pie chart that currently shows just 33% of devices visiting the Google Play store over the same time period running the company's latest Android 4.1-4.2 Jelly Bean versions, which began appearing last July. In fact, the most popular version of Android remains 2.3.x Gingerbread, which first appeared in December 2010.
Apple executives have increasingly focused on Android's fragmentation as a major weakness of the platform, with developers having to target many different versions of Android and numerous different devices with their apps. Apple contrasts that experience with developing for iOS, which supports a limited number of display sizes and for which the vast majority of users are running the most recent major version.
At today's WWDC 2025 keynote event, Apple unveiled a new design that will inform the next decade of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS development, so needless to say, it was a busy day. Apple also unveiled a ton of new features for the iPhone, an overhauled Spotlight interface for the Mac, and a ton of updates that make the iPad more like a Mac than ever before.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
Apple today announced that iPadOS 26 will be compatible with the iPad models listed below.
iPadOS 26 features a new Liquid Glass design, a menu bar, improved app windowing, and more.
iPadOS 26 supports the following iPad models:iPad Pro (M4)
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later)
iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later)
iPad Air (M2 and later)
iPad Air (3rd generation and...
Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup.
If you skipped the iPhone...
Wednesday June 11, 2025 7:14 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple at WWDC previewed a bunch of new features coming in its updated operating systems, but certain changes will have been met with dismay by third-party developers who already offer apps with equivalent or similar features. In other words, their product has been "sherlocked" by Apple.
When Apple creates an app or a feature that has functionality found in a third-party app, it is referred...
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further.
During its WWDC 2025 keynote today, Apple said that 13...
Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence.
The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
Apple has announced iOS 26, and the upcoming software update includes a long list of new features and changes for iPhones.
The first iOS 26 developer beta is now available, and a public beta will follow next month. The update will be released later this year.
iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 and newer.
Below, we have provided a high-level overview of 100 new features and changes ...
Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by Juli Clover
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look.
Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
It's going to be more fragmented now once iOS7 is released. I have a feeling adoption rates will not be as high as previous iOS, people are afraid of change.
I think this is going to be the fastest adoption rate on record.
As someone who has developed for Android and iOS, I can tell you first hand, the fragmentation effing sucks. Google does pretty well at helping you manage it, but it still takes at least twice as long to write and test code to run on all Android devices as it does to do so with iOS devices.
And with the much smaller payoff... why bother? You're spending a lot of effort to get your app in a market that's only willing to spend 10% of what iOS users are.
